BUCYRUS — With the offense sputtering in the early going, Bucyrus must rely on pitching and defense to win games.

Both had issues on Monday.

The Redmen defense committed five errors and Wynford was the beneficiary of five walks and a hit batter as Bucyrus dropped a 7-3 Northern 10 Athletic Conference decision to the visiting Royals.

Noah Smith tossed a complete game for Wynford (3-2, 2-0 N10) and the Royals’ defense was flawless.

“Right now, we actually lead the league in walks allowed from our pitchers and most errors by our defense,” Wynford coach Tom Smith said. “I don’t think we had an error today, so we were much improved.”

Noah Smith struck out eight, walked two and hit a batter while scattering four hits.

“The N10 is tough and I’ve been struggling with control this year,” Noah Smith said. “So today, I just tried to focus on getting ahead in the count and then work from there.”

The Royals struck for a run in the top of the first inning. Cody Taylor led off the game with a walk and stole second. Taylor moved to third on a fly ball and one out later, scored on a balk.

Bucyrus starter Trevor Ley had control problems though he limited the Royals to four hits in six and two thirds innings and three of the seven runs he allowed were unearned.

“I thought Trevor didn’t pitch his best game. I thought he battled though,” Bucyrus coach Sean Maudsley said. “When the first batter reached, that guy scored. Noah only let one first batter reach and that batter scored.”

To Maudsley’s point, four of Wynford’s runs were scored by the lead-off batter in an inning.

The Royals stretched the lead to 5-0 in the third inning. Three errors mixed in with singles from Josh Crall, Kendal Blair and Seth Benedict and a lead-off walk to Taylor did the four-run damage. Benedict’s hit plated the last two runs.

“We’re doing the same things over and over and over again and we keep getting the same results,” Maudsley said. “Give it to Wynford, because they didn’t make any errors and Noah threw strikes. They put the ball in play.”

Bucyrus (1-3, 0-2) got on the board in the bottom of the third. Nic Middleton walked with one out, stole second, moved to third on a ground ball and scored on a passed ball.

Wynford scored a run in the sixth when Zach Harer led off with a walk, went to second on a sacrifice by Avery Langenderfer and scored on throwing error on that play.

The Redmen got themselves back into the game somewhat in the bottom of the sixth. Middleton walked to lead off, stole second and moved to third on a ground ball.

Ben Seibert was hit by a pitch and stole second. One out later, both runners came home on a single by Kael Scott to cut the deficit to 6-3.

“Bucyrus fought back. It was a great game,” Noah Smith said. “My catcher did great, my defense was great. They had some nice hits, but I tried to locate better.”

That was as close as the Redmen could get. Wynford added an insurance run in the seventh when Crall led off with a single and ultimately scored on a wild pitch.

“Through the first four games, we’re struggling to make adjustments during the game,” Maudsley said. “It’s just like driving a car. You’ve got to make little minor adjustments while you’re driving just so you don’t veer off one way or the other.”

Crall led Wynford with two singles and two runs scored. Benedict singled, scored and drove in two runs, Blair singled and scored, and Taylor scored twice.

Dylan Goff, Ley, Scott and Noah Parker all singled for the Redmen. Scott batted in two and Middleton scored twice.

“If we can get league wins this early, that’s a bonus because it’s a long season,” Tom Smith said. “We’ve got a long way to go.

“Bucyrus never gave up,” he added. “We had them down and the made it tight again with a couple runs in the fifth.”

“I’ll still say it, I think we’re a pretty good team. We just haven’t shown it yet,” Maudsley said. “I’m just hoping some day soon that this thing is going to click.

“We put a lot of hard work into the winter for us to come out and have a start like this,” he continued. “A lot of these kids worked their butts off in the weight room and individual workouts and we’re just not seeing results right now.”

Box score

Wynford 104 001 1      7   4   0

Bucyrus   001 002 0    3   4   5

WP: Noah Smith (8 SO, 2 W)

LP: Trevor Ley (9 SO, 5 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: None.

Multiple hits: (W) Josh Crall.

Records: Wynford 3-2 (2-0 N10); Bucyrus 1-3 (0-2 N10).

Next: Wynford at Buckeye Central, Tuesday; Bucyrus at Wynford, Wednesday.